✅ Guardrails 101 — Copy/Paste Safety Checklist for AI Builders (Non-Tech Friendly)
(Updated) I thought this might be useful because a lot of people want to “build with AI” but don’t have a security background — and safety talk often turns into either fear… or vague theory. This is neither. This is a simple, repeatable checklist you can copy into your project and run every time (like a pre-flight check). If you can follow a recipe, you can follow this. When to run it Run this checklist: - Before you launch - After any new feature - After any security news/alert - Once per month as a quick maintenance habit 🔒 Guardrails 101 (Copy/Paste Template) Project name: Owner (who is accountable): Where it’s hosted (platform): Last checked (date): 1) What are we building? (1–2 lines) - AI feature(s): - What users can do with it: 2) Data & privacy (what touches what) - What data is used? (none / basic / personal / sensitive) - Where is it stored? - Who can access it? Rule: If personal data is involved → minimize it and document why it’s needed. 3) Secrets & access (high priority) - ✅ 2FA enabled on: email / GitHub / hosting / admin dashboards - ✅ API keys stored safely (not in chats, screenshots, or public repos) - ✅ Least access: only people who need it have it - ✅ “Rotate keys” plan exists (where/how) 4) Updates & patching (boring but essential) - Dependencies/framework updated: ✅ / ❌ (date) - Hosting/platform updates: ✅ / ❌ - If a critical alert happens: who patches within 24–48h? 5) Monitoring (can we see problems early?) - Logs enabled: ✅ / ❌ - Alerts enabled for suspicious activity / errors: ✅ / ❌ - Who receives alerts? 6) Abuse & misuse (what could go wrong?) Quick answers: - Most likely misuse case: - Nightmare scenario (1 sentence): “If this goes wrong, the worst thing is…” - How we reduce it (rate limits / permissions / filters): - What we will NOT allow the AI to do: 7) Kill-switch & rollback (must-have) - Can we disable the AI feature quickly? ✅ / ❌ - Where is the “off switch”? - How do we roll back changes?